14-Hour Qatar Airways Economy Horror Flight… But Who Is To Blame?

A traveler has taken to social media to share what looks like a horrifically terrible experience on a long haul flight in Qatar Airways economy. This saga has been viewed tens of millions of times online across platforms, and for good reason. While I think the frustration is totally justified, I’m not sure the airline is to blame here…

Qatar Airways economy passenger has horrible seat mate

TikTok and Instagram user Essiebtravelin posted a three-part video series, documenting her awful 14-hour flight in Qatar Airways economy. She was in a window seat, and the elderly lady in the center seat was probably the seat mate from hell.

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This almost looks like something out of a comedy skit in terms of terrible passenger behavior. In the first video, the elderly lady in the center seat puts her legs fully in the other traveler’s space, she rests her head on the woman’s shoulder and leg, and then holds a knife in her direction (though seemingly not with any bad intent).

In the second video, the elderly lady tries to lie down on the floor and put her head on the seat, then she uses her seat mate’s leg as support to get up, then she sits in her lap.

In the third video, the traveler goes to the lavatory, and returns to find the woman having reclined herself across all three seats, while moving the traveler’s belongings. The crew ends up finding an extra middle seat on the plane, so that the man in the aisle seat could be moved there, and the elderly lady could have two seats. Then the elderly lady lies down across those two seats, and puts her in feet in the other traveler’s space.

My thoughts on this terrible Qatar Airways flight

There’s simply no denying that this was a horrible flight for the woman who recorded the video and the man in the aisle seat, because the behavior of the elderly lady in the middle seat just doesn’t follow acceptable norms (then again, filming other passengers also doesn’t follow norms).

I commend the traveler for maintaining her cool with this situation. I’m frustrated sitting here watching this, and I can only imagine what it was like to deal with this onboard a flight.

The traveler posted a follow-up video providing a bit of narration to what happened, and overall, she seems chill and level-headed. However, there are a couple of points where I have a different perspective.

First of all, I also have sympathy for the elderly lady who is acting completely out of line. The traveler calls her “entitled and privileged,” and suggests she’s “playing in our faces.” I wasn’t there, but that’s not what I see. I just see an elderly lady who maybe hasn’t flown much in her life, and is tired to the point that she can no longer function.

I imagine this woman was connecting from somewhere else (as most people on Gulf carriers do), and this was probably one of those flights that leaves in the very early morning hours. She was probably running on virtually no sleep for one or two days.

The reality is that flying in economy on a long haul flight is a grueling experience, especially if you’re not used to it. So I don’t get the sense that this woman was entitled, I just get the sense that she was super tired, and also probably wasn’t aware of proper norms onboard an aircraft. Maybe I’m just too sympathetic in that regard, though?

Now, I do think maybe she should be banned from the airline, or not be allowed to fly alone, because the reality is that her impact on other passengers is unacceptable. But that doesn’t make it malicious or intentional, in my opinion.

Second of all, the traveler thinks that Qatar Airways didn’t do enough for her, and she even says that she’s working with a lawyer to “address what occurred.” It raises the question, what liability does an airline have if one of their passengers acts this way?

• The lady didn’t speak English or any other language spoken by the crew, and no one could communicate with her
• It’s not like she was causing a disturbance in a way that would warrant a diversion, because she was likely just an elderly and exhausted traveler not familiar with norms when flying
• It seems like there was one empty middle seat on the plane, which someone eventually got moved to; maybe that should’ve happened earlier?
• The crew should of course be apologetic and see if there’s anything they can do for her, but I’m not sure what exactly else they could’ve done
• The traveler’s recommendations just don’t make sense, like moving the elderly lady to the zone for “irate passengers” (which doesn’t exist), or telling the captain, so he can provide compensation (if anything, the cabin manager would be the one in a position to do that)

Based on all the details we have, I don’t think Qatar Airways really did anything wrong here. That’s not to say it wasn’t an absolutely terrible flight, but a flight can be terrible in spite of the crew doing their best.

Given how much attention this has received, I do think a general apology for the negative experience would be appropriate, with some gesture of goodwill. I mean, why not even give this lady a ticket in Qsuites business class, so she can report back on a good experience? But lawyering up over this?! I just don’t see it…

Bottom line

There’s a video series that’s going viral on social media, showing an awful Qatar Airways economy experience. A traveler had an elderly seat mate who was clearly very tired and wasn’t familiar with proper etiquette on aircraft. This made for an unimaginably unpleasant flight.

Obviously I feel bad for the traveler, since economy on a long haul flight is typically not pleasant under the best of circumstances, let alone when something like this happens. But still, I don’t think the airline is to blame here, at least in any significant way.

What do you make of this Qatar Airways economy experience?